We caught up with TV personality and home cook Donal Skehan to chat about embracing the chaos as he celebrates the release of his new recipes book, Home Kitchen, and his new series Home Cook, debuting on screens on 1 November on RTÉ One.
Donal Skehan has learned to embrace the chaos. The 37-year-old food writer, home chef and television presenter, who is father to two boys, five-year-old Noah and three-year-old Oliver, with his wife Sofie Larsson, has had a hectic few years.
In 2020, the Dublin TV personality and his family moved back to Ireland from Los Angeles, where they had been based since 2016. As well as grappling with the pandemic, the family also had to deal with the turbulent Irish housing market, bouncing between rental homes four times in three years.
Now, having bought their new house in his native Howth, Skehan feels like he can finally take a breath and find "moments of gratitude" amidst the bustling mayhem of life with young children.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, he looked back on the experience: "In lots of ways I look back and think I was a bit down there, I wasn't feeling great and I look back and it was just madness.
"In general human nature we need that safe space to come back to and for the last couple of years we haven’t had that. Even when we were in LA, we were grounded there. Since we came back [to Ireland] we haven’t had that, we’ve had a bit of a nightmare with renting.
"It makes you sit in that fight or flight mode, so we value the moment of being settled for the first time. In some ways we don’t know what to do with ourselves!"
They've been busy turning their house into a home since the summer.
"We spent a lot of this year trying to get it in shape, we got the keys in February but didn't really start work on it until May," he said. "We haven’t done anything in terms of construction, it’s been all cosmetic makeovers, I’m a big believer that you need to be in a space [before you do the building work] ... that I don’t have the budget," he laughed.
"It’s amazing when you’re in your twenties and you think 'I’m going to have the house and the kids..’ and it doesn’t always work out that way. Because of that, there’s resilience that builds up in you and it also forces you to know what you want.
"The fab thing is we’re in, we’ve done a little bit of work and it does feel like home."
Skehan was busy writing his eleventh cookbook, Home Kitchen, while they were in the processing of trying to find their home. He said it was "serendipitous" that he was writing the book at the same time.
"I was writing and submitting the manuscript as we were about to sign on the house. I had written the intro and I had to rewrite it as we actually got the house", he explained.
"I’ve written these recipes as a celebration of the recipes that have kept us alive for the last couple of years, in between all the moves and everything with young children.
"This is the gold standard of my kitchen companion, the things that have seen us through. We’re cooking through these recipes now in our home kitchen and that’s what’s special about it."
The food writer is "amazed" that this is the eleventh book to add to his back catalogue.
"When I started out with a food blog I always had grand visions of getting a cookbook, and to think there's been eleven, it’s quite amazing," he said.
"But I love the process of making them, of coming up with the recipes, and I think that’s why there has been a continuation. More than ever, I understand my role. I’m not a chef I’m a home cook and I write recipes for other fellow home cooks who need problems solved, the people who literally are slogging and getting the dinner to the table.
"I’ve become very aware that that’s my job and it makes it easier when it comes to writing recipes because I know I’m not going to give you a 20-ingredient list and a really complicated method because that’s not going to get used.
"In lots of ways when you evolve and take inspiration from other people, part of that process is defining who you are and what your voice is in the space. To know that is what allows you to remain in that space.
"I’ve seen times in my career when I’ve no known that as clearly and now I’ve really honed in and have that. It really is your reason and your purpose."
Skehan is one of those people slogging to get dinner on the table while battling the whims of young children, joking that their two boys are "absolutely feral".
"To try and cohesively pull together a meal, stress-free, in that environment can be difficult," he laughed.
His advice was to try and involve the kids as much as possible. "Sometimes the way around it is to involve them in it, as messy as it is, at least they're occupied with something. I do think you just have to embrace the madness sometimes," he said.
He also tries to give his kids a choice of a variety of ingredients.
"Often times I’ll put elements on the table and then serve them and that means they’re part of the conversation. If you can make them feel part of the process it does help with those arguments you have at the dinner table," he said.
"Thankfully our two love eating out, I think that comes from living in Los Angeles because we would have eaten out a lot there. Their party piece, I feel like we look like obnoxious parents, but they love mussels and they love clams, so they will eat those things."
"I realise how ridiculous that looks but they genuinely like them. The rest of the time there's definitely waffles, fish fingers and baked beans, the usual staples," he added with a laugh.
"You can’t be perfect all the time, there’s no space for that when you have young kids. I think you have to embrace it as it comes."
Skehan's new eight-part TV series Home Cook starts on RTÉ One tonight and is jam-packed with quick recipes for busy families.
The TV star has had a very successful career on-screen in Ireland since his show Kitchen Hero debuted on RTÉ in 2011, and across the pond in the UK and US where he has appeared on shows such as Saturday Kitchen and Baketopia.
Having thrown his hat in the ring to host Dancing With the Stars when Nicky Byrne left, a role which eventually went to Doireann Garrihy, he says he would definitely be interested in other live television opportunities.
"When that opportunity came up, I was like ‘absolutely I’ll go for it’. I had a great experience presenting Saturday Kitchen on BBC One for a number of years. It was such a buzz to host that show, quite a lot of pressure as well.
"I loved that, and I go over and guest host every now and again, but I would love to do something back home if the opportunity came up. I’m not out there plugging for it, but if the opportunity came up it’s certainly something I would consider!"
However, life is definitely busy enough for Skehan right now, and he's trying to enjoy every minute.
"We’re just at the beginning of it and it’s a lovely place to be," he said. "We’ve chickens arriving next week, which we always said we would do when we finally got the home.
"I think we’re at the start of a very exciting new chapter. I’m pretty happy and excited at the moment!"
Skehan's new series Home Cook starts 1 November at 8.30pm on RTÉ One.
His book Home Kitchen is available now.
